Rievaulx Abbey Ruins, a former Cistercian abbey in Rievaulx, near Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. It was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England until it was dissolved by Henry VIII of England in 1538. Originally founded in 1132 by twelve monks from Clairvaux Abbey as a mission for the colonization of the north of England and Scotland.